Pat Riley said he will never give up his policy of being tough on his players as he enters his 30th year as a Miami Heat owner, sending a message to Jimmy Butler amid their feud as the 35-year-old prepares to return from a team-sanctioned suspension.
Riley purchased a small share in the Florida-based team in 1995 and became the team’s president at the same time, helping to oversee them to two NBA titles during his time as an executive after previously winning championships as a player and a coach.
Yet now he faces one of the toughest challenges of his 57 years within the NBA scene as he tries to navigate keeping Butler calm after the small forward demanded to be traded and said he would rather play anywhere else that isn’t the Kaseya Center.
It seems as though the Heat will trade him, or will at least hear offers, but that wasn’t before they slapped the six-time All-Star with a seven-game ban without pay for multiple examples of “conduct detrimental to the team”.
That cost the 6ft 7in player around $3.7m dollars in salary and made it perfectly clear that he’s not above being sidelined if he cant control his ego, as he missed games against the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors and two games against the Utah Jazz.
He will still be sidelined for clashes against the Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers as the Heat find themselves 19-17 and seventh in the Eastern Conference, and Riley said he has no regrets regarding the call.
“I’m never going to apologize to my players for being tough,” Riley told the LeBatardShow. “Never.
“That’s who I was. That’s how I was coached. And that’s how I was raised. That was my approach but I also had a tremendous compassion for them when I was tough on them.”
When is Jimmy Butler back?
Having already served four games of the team-sanctioned ban, Jimmy Butler is almost eligible to return for the Miami Heat, although based on his comments at his coffee shop he hasn’t changed his feelings concerning the fallout.
Butler is next eligible to play against the 22-15 Denver Nuggets on January 17 at the Kaseya Center. Tip-off is due at 20:00 ET/17:00 PT.